How Did African Americans Contribute To The Abolitionist Movement

The abolitionist movement grew in numbers and in strength during this time. William Lloyd Garrison and the Grimké sisters spoke out publicly against slavery, although, these and other white abolitionists drew public attention to the cause, African Americans themselves played a major role in antislavery efforts. Frederick Douglass was the most widely known African American abolitionist. Others took more direct action in leading enslaved people to freedom. The Underground Railroad helped runaway slaves from the South reach freedom and safety in the North. The most famous “conductor” on this train was Harriet Tubman.
Between 1819 and 1860 events led the United States closer to a civil war. The major issue in these events was slavery in the territories. In 1819 Missouri applied to Congress to join the United States. The admission of Missouri, a slave state, would have upset the balance of 11 slave states and 11 Free states that existed in the Union. The Missouri Compromise offset the admission of

Missouri with that of a free state, Maine. When California sought statehood in 1850 another compromise was needed. The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state, but removed restrictions on slavery in the New Mexico territory and created a stronger fugitive slave law. When conflict arose again over the Kansas and Nebraska territories, Stephen A. Douglas's plan—popular sovereignty—was applied to the new territories. In Kansas, proslavery and antislavery forces clashed violently.
As the issue of slavery divided the nation, antislavery Whigs and Democrats joined with Free-Soilers to form the Republican Party. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision also contributed to the sectional controversy. Chief Justice Taney's ruling stated that there was no constitutional provision that could prohibit slavery anywhere. By 1860 many Southerners felt that they could no longer stay in the Union. The election of Republican Abraham Lincoln led several Southern states to secede. They formed the Confederate States of America. After Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, President Lincoln issued a call for troops. The Civil War had begun…
As the Civil War drew to a close, President Lincoln and the leaders in Congress began to develop plans to bring the South back into the nation. Lincoln's plan sought to heal the country, rather than punish the South. Radical Republicans in Congress wanted a more radical plan—one that would make the South suffer for causing the war. The assassination of President Lincoln threw the country into mourning and set the stage for a divisive political battle between President Johnson and Congressional Republicans. Eventually the conflict led the House of Representatives to impeach Johnson. The Senate vote was one short of that needed to remove the president from office.
A key part of Reconstruction was the establishment of civil rights for African Americans.

The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment defined citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited state and federal governments from denying the vote to any male citizen because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The Freedmen's Bureau distributed food and clothing and provided medical services to African Americans. Perhaps its most important service, however, was to establish schools and provide teachers. As some African Americans exercised their right to vote, others took elected positions in state legislatures, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Some whites wanted to limit the rights of African Americans. They accomplished this through the passage of laws called black codes. Other groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, used intimidation and violence to prevent freed men and women from exercising their

rights.
From 1869 to 1877 former Union general Ulysses S. Grant was president of the United States. A series of scandals involving unfair business deals and corruption damaged the reputation of the Republican Party during Grant's administration. In the election of 1876 the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden, received the majority of the popular votes. However, disputed returns prevented him from receiving a majority of the electoral vote. A special commission awarded the disputed votes to the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes declared that Reconstruction was over.